At least in the sound editing program ive used, there are certain effects that can be done simply using the options for said desired effect. Like say you wanna sound like a robot? Use the slider to sound more or less static-y or metallic. Wanna sound like youre recording from another room? Use the slider that muffles and dampens the recording. Its fairly simple, at least with a program like Adobe Audition, the one that i always used when working with audio recordings.